1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical power systems. Particularly, the present invention relates to electrical power control systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional electrical circuit panel boards such as those used to control lighting circuits include standard electrical-mechanical breakers that control various circuits and/or certain electrical devices attached to those circuits. To energize the circuit, the circuit breaker must be switched on. Circuit breakers found in conventional circuit panel boards are typically not designed for switching purposes. Operating those circuit breakers manually as a means of switch control is not recommended by the manufacturers and certainly not a realistic means of proper energy management.
Building and/or energy management systems have been employed for as long as commercial buildings have existed. The earliest and simplest systems included the use of physical manpower to load coal into coal fired boilers or opening water pipe valves manually with the use of a handle to enable heated water to flow through a radiator circuit. The modern understanding of the phrase building management systems means the use of complex electronic devices that are capable of retaining data for the purposes of managing services such as power, lighting, heating and so on.
Typically, a building/energy management system is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building's mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and security systems. The earlier systems included software and hardware where the software was usually proprietary. New vendors, however, are producing systems that integrate using Internet protocols and more open standards.
A building/energy management system is most common in a large building. Systems linked to a building/energy management system typically represent 40% of a building's energy usage; if lighting is included, this number approaches 70%. Building/energy management systems are a critical component to managing energy demand. Improperly configured building/energy management systems are believed to account for 20% of building energy usage, or approximately 8% of total energy usage in the United States.
As well as controlling the building's internal environment, building/energy management systems are sometimes linked to access control (turnstiles and access doors controlling who is allowed access and egress to the building) or other security systems such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) and motion detectors. Fire alarm systems and elevators are also sometimes linked to a building/energy management system. For example, if a fire is detected by the system then the system could shut off dampers in the ventilation system to stop smoke spreading and/or send all the elevators to the ground floor and park them to prevent people from using them in the event of a fire.
Building/energy management systems are usually delivered as fully integrated systems and services through companies such as Siemens, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Trend Controls, Schneider Electric, Trane and others. Independent services companies use solutions from companies such as Rockwell Automation, KMB systems, BBP Energies, Delta, Distech, Circon and KMC controls. Some of the newer systems allow control of facility-wide systems such as boilers, air handling units and cooling towers via a graphical user interface at one or more workstations in the building or via a web browser over the Internet.
A building/energy management system includes controllers, various communications devices and a full complement of operational software necessary for a fully functioning and integrated control system.
Currently, building automation and energy management systems that also control facility lighting systems require an integration component that consists of electronic circuit breakers and associated integrated software components. The integrated software components are complex, often proprietary in nature and expensive to install in order to incorporate and integrate lighting control into the building automation and energy management system.
Electronic circuit breaker panel boards are available from various manufacturers. Unfortunately, the material and labor costs associated with the installation of the electronic panel boards along with the integration of the electronic circuit board modules for communicating with the energy management system components of various manufacturers is often a financial barrier of entry for businesses that have a desire to better manage their lighting utility consumption more realistically and appropriately for medium to small-size buildings.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method that is easy to install and affordable. What is also needed is a system and method that accomplishes similar economic benefits as the expensive and more complex electronic breaker panels and systems.